Posted by Michael Wonder on 11 Apr 2019
Shooting the PHARMAC messenger
11 April 2019 - National’s unsuccessful attempt to get a Parliamentary inquiry into PHARMAC is a classic case of shooting the messenger.
PHARMAC is a procurement agency, charged with securing the nation’s supplies of medicines and medical devices. But it is not, and was never intended to be, a policy agency.
Under the national medicines strategy, Medicines New Zealand, which has underpinned the medicines policy of successive governments since I developed it in 2007, there are three very specific objectives. First, that medicines are safe, of high quality, and are effective; second, that New Zealanders have access to the medicines they need, regardless of their individual ability to pay, and within the government funding provided; and, third, that the choices made about medicines, the ways the system delivers medicines, and the ways individuals use medicines result in optimal outcomes.
